


The City Upstairs

by Short_circuit



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: AU, Angst, Feels, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-23
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2018-02-05 22:42:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1834894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Short_circuit/pseuds/Short_circuit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Carlos meets his patient.</p>
          </blockquote>





	1. The Scientist Arrives

     The wind whipped through the yellow grass as though it would blow forever.  A lone automobile weaved through the fields in the direction of a solitary building on the horizon, a white box-like building which gave off a bleak atmosphere. The driver parked his car in the large parking lot before the building and stepped out into the bright Arizona sunlight. He was dressed in a stark white lab coat, black skinny jeans, and retro wingtip shoes. The lively wind blew his lengthy brown curls behind his thick square glasses. He strode confidently across the parking lot, the gravel crackling under his feet. He stopped before a large sign in front of the door:

**_The Wickenburg Establishment For The Nurturing of The Mentally Unstable._ **

"I guess that's the nicest way to put 'asylum'," the man chuckled to himself. He looked the building up and down; there were many windows and all the curtains were drawn, someone had planted some tulips in front probably so that it would not seem so dismal. But it was. It was a mental institute full of psychopaths and schizophrenics, it was made to be dismal.  He gave one last look and stopped. On the top floor there was an open window, just a crack and looking through the curtains was a face just barely noticeable. It stared down at the man in the lab coat for only a minute and was gone. Chills went down his spine.      

"No matter how many times I transfer these places give me the creeps." He hurried inside to the reception desk where a young woman with ebony skin and an excess of frizzy hair sat at her computer. She had dark eyes that sparkled, soft hands, and an interesting assortment of 70's jewelry. Altogether she seemed as though she was working in the wrong place. She looked up from her computer and smiled at the man in the lab coat.

"May I help you, sir?" She asked cheerily.

"Yes, my name is Carlos. I'm the new doctor, I'm terribly sorry I'm late." Said the man in the lab coat. He ran his fingers through his hair revealing a slight graying at the temples.

"Oh good," the young lady smiled,"I've been waiting for you. My name is Dana." She leaned forward over the desk to shake Carlos' hand, "I'll be showing you around the place, helping you get settled in." She continued to flash her white smile, it was almost nerve wracking how happy she seemed. She walked around the desk with a clipboard in hand. Carlos looked her up and down, she was approximately five foot two and beneath her lab coat were vibrant purple scrubs.

"We'll start here with the easier cases, Alzheimer's, dementia, and a few Erotomanics. Patients who pose no threat, mostly the elderly and generally lovely people." She began leading Carlos down the hall, "Here we generally sort our patients by the threat the pose to their fellow patients. The second level houses more dangerous diseases, and so on."

"And where will I be stationed?" questioned the doctor.

" _You_ ," began Dana as she flipped through the abundance of papers on her clipboard. She raised an eyebrow as she continued to flip through the papers, unable to find  what she was looking for. The smile started fading from her face.

 _"That's rather worrying,"_ Carlos thought to himself,  _"maybe it was a mistake to apply for this job."_

"Oh," Dana muttered as she stopped and stared at the last page. "You're the new specialist," she looked at Carlos and bit her lip. "Well, you needn't worry about that right now. I still have yet to introduce you to the other doctors." She smiled, but something was different this time. She began rushing down the halls with Carlos in tow. The head doctor here on the first floor is Dr. Carlsberg." They rounded the corner into a rustic looking room where two men sat at a table, each with a book in their hands. "Good morning, Steve," Dana smiled.

"Morning, Dana," he grumbled. He seemed like the kind who belonged working in a place like this. He looked about 38, with moderate frown lines, and a bit of a slouch. He sat at the table with another middle-aged man dressed in a mock native american headdress. "Who's this?" Steve turned to Carlos.

"This is Dr. Carlos," Dana replied.

"Nice to meet you," Carlos offered his hand. Steve shook it reluctantly.

"Where will he be working?"

"Well... he's the new-" Dana stopped as the hospital intercom came alive with a crackle and a pop. Steve's eyes widened and Dana looked down at her shoes smirking slightly.

 _"And now, today's broadcast from the top_ _floor."_   Carlos looked up at the speakers installed in the ceiling, his eyes were wide.

_"A friendly dessert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep."_

Carlos turned to his companions, "What is that?" Steve glanced at Dana, was that fear in his eyes? "I asked, what is that?"

Dana bit her lip and looked up at Carlos.

"Your patient."

 ** _"Welcome, to Night_ Vale."**   


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carlos meets his patient.

     Carlos' eyes were wide as he looked between Steve and Dana. "What is this?!" What kind of place would let their patients on the intercom?

"It's the daily broadcast," Dana explained as though this were normal, "the patient on the top floor tells us about his delusions. It's really quite fascinating."

"But what is this Night Vale?" Carlos questioned.

"It's what he calls this place. To him this is a town and all of us are characters in his _twisted_ reality," Steve sneered.

_"A new  man came into town today."_

"He must be talking about you!" Dana exclaimed as though it were an honor to be spoken of. Steve just rolled his eyes.

_"What does he want from us? Why his perfect and beautiful haircut? Why his perfect and beautiful coat?"  _ Carlos raised an eyebrow as he ran his fingers through his "perfect" hair. The face in the window earlier, that must have been him peeking through the curtains. He listened to the voice which seemed to drip from the speaker in the ceiling. The way it rose and fell was unnatural, like the waves of an ocean rolling in reverse. Carlos tried to picture what sort of person sounded like that.

_ "Return to your home and lock the doors until one of the Sheriff's secret policeman leaves a carnation on your porch to indicate that the danger has passed." _

"Dana, will you show me to the top floor?" Carlos asked with a curious grin on his face, "I have to find out who has such interesting hallucinations." Dana grinned,

"Right this way," she motioned for him to follow her. When they reached the elevator door they were stopped by an old woman with a sweet smile.

"Pardon me, Dana," said the old lady.

"Yes, ma'am?" asked Dana sweetly.

"Do you happen to have any salt? I'm afraid I'm out," she replied. Her cheeks turned a slight pink shade as if she were embarrassed to ask.

"I'm afraid not," Dana sighed, "what happened to your salt?"

"The angels took it, they said they needed it for a mission for God," answered the older woman. "Thank you anyway, dear," she said as Dana and Carlos stepped into the elevator.

"Josie. A dementia patient," Dana explained, "she thinks she lives with angels." Carlos nodded, it wasn't the oddest dementia case he'd ever encountered. 

_"There is no word yet on if or how this will affect Night Vale Mountain Lions’ game schedule,"_

The elevator stopped and opened it's doors. The top floor seemed even more bleak and frightening than the building's exterior. The old carpet was fraying in some places, and the few light bulbs there were flickered dimly. There didn't seem to be anyone up here other than the old cleaning lady at the end of the hall, a few door windows were illuminated but not many. From behind one of them Carlos could hear the strange voice speaking into the intercom microphone.

_"Dessert Bluffs is always trying to show us up..."_

Dana nodded to one of the doors and Carlos cautiously placed his hand on the doorknob.

_"Through fancier uniforms, better pre-game snacks..."_

Carlos felt his palms turn clammy as he turned the knob and the door slowly creaked open.

"And possibly by transporting a commercial jet into our gymnasium, delaying practice for several minutes at least."Carlos stood in the door way and stared at the man sitting in the middle of the room. He seemed perfectly normal from behind. Tall with shaggy blonde hair, wearing a purple sweater, khakis, and purple converse shoes. Carlos cleared his throat, the man spun around in his chair. From the front he was much stranger; purple tentacles and were tattooed up and down his arms and there was a mysterious third eye in the middle of his forehead. Carlos could not be sure if it was decorative or functional. The man blinked at Carlos.

"My name is Carlos," he stammered, "I will be your new doctor." It seemed as though time stilled and the whole hospital tensed as if awaiting the patient's reply. Carlos smiled nervously at the man in the sweater. "I've got to say, you're the most interesting patient I've ever had," he could feel a bead of sweat roll down his temple. That was stupid. No matter what you couldn't shatter a patient's delusion, it was practically rule number one of the asylum worker's hand book. The man in the sweater broke into a wide grin and his face turned pink. He spun back around to face his microphone.

     Dana took Carlos' hand and mouthed, "let's go." Carlos nodded and took one last look at the man in the sweater, it was an almost longing look.

"The new scientist, we now know is named Carlos. He grinned and everything about him was perfect...

**"And I fell in love instantly."**

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter was a bit fast paced :P Oh well, I'll write more as soon as I can :)


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